Hippocrates 4: Nature of Man

by Hippocrates

Hippocrates, said to have been born in Cos in or before 460 BCE, learned medicine and philosophy; travelled widely as a medical doctor and teacher; was consulted by King Perdiccas of Macedon and Artaxerxes of Persia; and died perhaps at Larissa. Apparently he rejected superstition in favour of inductive reasoning and the study of real medicine as subject to natural laws, in general and in individual people as patients for treatment by medicines and surgery. Of the roughly 70 works in the 'Hippocratic Collection' many are not by Hippocrates; even the famous oath may not be his. But he was undeniably the 'Father of Medicine'.

The works available in the Loeb Classical Library edition of Hippocrates are the following. Volume I: Ancient Medicine. Airs, Waters, Places. Epidemics 1 and 3. The Oath. Precepts. Nutriment. Volume II: Prognostic. Regimen in Acute Diseases. The Sacred Disease. The Art. Breaths. Law. Decorum. Physician (Ch. 1). Dentition. Volume III: On Wounds in the Head. In the Surgery. On Fractures. On Joints. Mochlicon. Volume IV: Nature of Man. Regimen in Health. Humours. Aphorisms. Regimen 1-3. Dreams. Volume V: Affections. Diseases 1-2. Volume VI: Diseases 3. Internal Affections. Regimen in Acute Diseases. Volume VII: Epidemics 2 and 4-7. Volume VIII: Places in Man. Glands. Fleshes. Prorrhetic I-II. Physician. Use of Liquids. Ulcers. Haemorrhoids and Fistulas. Volume IV also contains the fragments of Heracleitus, On the Universe.

592 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC) was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is referred to as the "father of medicine" in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic School of medicine. This intellectual school revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields that it had traditionally been associated with (notably theurgy and philosophy), thus making medicine a profession.

However, the achievements of the writers of the Corpus, the practitioners of Hippocratic medicine, and the actions of Hippocrates himself are often commingled; thus very little is known about what Hippocrates actually thought, wrote, and did. Nevertheless, Hippocrates is commonly portrayed as the paragon of the ancient physician. In particular, he is credited with greatly advancing the systematic study of clinical medicine, summing up the medical knowledge of previous schools, and prescribing practices for physicians through the Hippocratic Oath and other works.

Reviews

[Delanie Dooms · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have, in fact, not read the full of this book. Indeed, I have only read On the Nature of Man, an essay by Polybus (the son-in-law of Hippocrates, this information coming from Aristotle), and which is one of the first (known) writings upon the four humors. It was often published alongside another section of this edition, the Regimen, but this I do not care to read at the moment. Although, I believe I shall do so one day.

What Polybus/Hippocrates gets correct is virtually nothing. There are certainly things that are true, and which he uses as evidence, in the work: people, for instance, do often have more phlegm in winter than in summer. Nevertheless, the four humors--yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood--and how they interact (the imbalance of any, whether too much or too little, causing disease and pain) seems incorrect. That these four humors are also given nature by the four natures--heat, cold, dry, and moist--is also seemingly incorrect. The use of blood-letting to stop pain (this being done through knowledge of the proximity of certain veins to the painful section: one would cut at the far end [relative to the pain] of the vein connected to the painful area, in hopes of a) reducing the pain and b) reducing it slowly by not putting the area into shock) seems incorrect.

I like this book mainly because it is helpful in understanding the clinical basis of the time. That fevers are almost all caused by bile, for example, or that the fever has a crisis; that things were often treated according to their opposite (hot with cold; dry with moist); etc.

[Santiago González · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este texto se encuentra la teoría del equilibrio entre bilis negra, bilis amarilla, sangre y flema (junto con otros equilibrios) que tanto influyó a lo largo de la historia (comenzando por Galeno, para quien este texto era el más importante del Corpus y estaba escrito por el propio Hipócrates). Sólo la primera parte trata sobre el equilibrio entre los 4 elementos mencionados, luego se tratan otros apartados como las dietas, entre otros.